Petar Jivkov provided the heroics for the San Marcos boys tennis team on Wednesday, coming back from a 4-0 deficit in the final set of the day to defeat Arroyo Grande’s Sean Hollister in a tiebreaker and lead the Royals to a 10-8 victory over the Eagles.
“Petar showed amazing concentration and resolve when our team needed him the most,” said coach Jarrod Bradley. “He’s shown that he’s capable of playing the big sets and is not afraid to hit his shots in the most pressure-packed moments.”
Hollister broke twice to take the 4-0 lead, but Jivkov mirrored the effort to tie up the set. Hollister took a 5-4 lead before Jivkov answered and the set went into a tiebreak. He had set point at 6-5 but returned a second serve from Hollister wide. Hollister then had set point at 7-6 but Jivkov stayed afloat with an inside-out forehand winner. Two points later, he hit a forehand down the line that Hollister returned into the net.
San Marcos continued its dominance in doubles, going 9-0 in tandems on the day. Nik Kilpelainen and Garrett Timmons are still undefeated on the year, and the Royals are a remarkable 35-1 in doubles sets as a team.
“We were very aggressive at the net all day and played a very solid serve and return game,” said Bradley. “Anytime our guys can get to net and go for their volleys, our percentages increase. We’re putting away volleys into the open court that last year we would have missed or given our opponents another chance.”
The Royals remain unbeaten at 4-0 while Arroyo Grande fell to 3-1. San Marcos plays at Santa Ynez on Friday.
SAN MARCOS 10, ARROYO GRANDE 8
Singles — SM: Petar Jivkov 1-2, Jacob Coffey 0-3, Garrett Hazarian 0-2, Parker Funk 0-1. AG: Eli Whittle 3-0, Sean Hollister 2-1, Danny Williams 3-0.
Doubles — SM: Jackson Mann-Scott Messier 3-0, Nik Kilpelainen-Garrett Timmons 3-0, Travis Enholm-Jackson Foster 3-0. AG: Ian Moynagh-Jordan Hayashi 0-3, Kenji McKinstry-Brent Moore 0-3, Tyler Yager-Evan Lange 0-3.
